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2018 Legislative Priorities​​

The Vermont Association of the Area Agencies on Aging (V4A) is working to help more Vermonters age in place. We ask the legislature to support this goal by acting on the following issues.

Invest in the Health of Older Vermonters to Create a More Sustainable Future

Without addressing the physical, mental, social, emotional and financial needs of older Vermonters, we will see an explosion in the health care costs for these individuals in the most expensive settings. Simultaneously, Federal and state funding for programs that immeasurably improve older Vermonters’ health outcomes and lower health care expenditures have steadily lost ground. These programs include Meals-on-Wheels and service care coordination, health insurance counseling, and options counseling for long-term care supports within the community. We ask you to support the following proposed legislation.

H.284 An act relating to increasing Medicaid rates for home and community-based service providers H.284 will adequately reimburse community-based providers who help older Vermonters age in place. This bill will require annual inflationary increases to reimbursement rates for home and community-based service providers in line with institutional providers. If we can strengthen and sustain our home and community-based care networks we will see better outcomes, and all Vermonters will benefit.

H.434 An act relating to home-delivered meals as a reimbursable covered service Vermont covers the cost of meals for Medicaid residents in nursing facilities but refuses to cover nutritional supports for Medicaid recipients who choose to receive long-term care in home and community-based settings. This bill will require the Secretary of Human Services to apply for an amendment to Vermont’s Global Commitment waiver to allow home-delivered meals to be treated as a reimbursable covered service. We ask the legislature to pass H.434 to support the needs of older Vermonters who are aging in place.

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Protect Programs that are Essential to Older Vermonters. We ask the legislature to do everything in its power to mitigate the negative impacts from the potential loss of funding to essential programs that support older Vermonters. At a time when we see increasing reliance on home and community-based programs, we must make sure that reduced funding does not threaten the viability of these programs.

Commit to a Viable and Shared Vision of Health Care Reform Vermont must strengthen the supports and services provided by the Area Agencies on Aging, Home Health Agencies, Adult Day programs and Community Mental Health Agencies, and fully integrate them into the health care system. Health care reform will not succeed if Vermont appropriates reimbursement increases for institutional providers while starving the community-based delivery system. The legislature should look at ways to provide more affordable housing options for older Vermonters, increase transportation access, and invest in family caregiver support as part of health care reform.